Like Mark, I have a hard time with the concept of the "best" bottle of wine. My most memorable would include the following:

'78 La Tour - Drank this at a Christmas dinner with my family (parents, brother, sister, spouses) sometime in the early '90's. My first incredible, OMFG Bordeaux. Beautiful wine.

'99 Baumard Clos du Papillon - Had this at a Christmas party thrown by my wife's company. I couldn't stop drinking the stuff. My first ever total OMFG white wine.

'76 Baumard Clos du Papillon - Had this at the French Laundry a couple of years ago. One of the cheapest wines on the list and staggeringly amazing stuff. Don't know if anyone else at the table really liked it as much as me, but I couldn't believe a white wine could taste like that.

A Clos Pegase Sauvignon Blanc from sometime around '86 or so - Back when my first wife and I were still dating, we worked for the same company. We snuck off for lunch one day, had a picnic, and drank a bottle of this. Went back to work, but nothing elevates a wine like sneaking off somewhere and drinking it with someone you're wildly in love with.

There are so many other memorable bottles that I could list, but these are the ones that jumped out first.

There aren’t strong enough superlatives to do justice to the concentration and viscosity of this wine. Swirling the wine gently left a thick coat of wine along the sides of the glass for over five minutes.

An impenetrable glowing dark mahogany in colour with glimpses of olive yellow, honey and maple throughout.

Impossibly complex bouquet, one feels that you could dedicate weeks to sitting and smelling this in awe and still not unravel all the layers that it has to offer. Toffee, caramel, butterscotch, tobacco, rancio and spirity characters each as fully intense as if they were the only aromas in the wine.

On the palate you are treated to the unbelievable viscosity of the wine as it flows ever so slowly down the side of the glass and past your lips. You almost feel like you are able to chew on the wine it is so dense. The flavours are like an explosion in your mouth - Toffee, caramel, maple syrup, roasted coffee beans, dark chocolate, cigar box - but enough acid to keep the balance.

The finish is glorious and the astonishing aftertaste remains with you for hours, if not longer.

Sam Platt wrote: Okay, Covert, let her read your post and then tell her you bought the Harley... My God man, stand up and tell that woman you're going drinking with the boys, and you're gonna do it guilt free!

Sam,

You many already know from previous posts that my wife and I owned a bunch of Harleys, most of which I built from scratch. I worked for a chopper shop and ran with hard-core bikers. I was never home. Riding Harleys today is passe - everybody has one. If I rode anything, it would at least be a Boss Hoss.

I had just gotten back from the funeral of a sibling when I posted my sissy-ass comment; I was feeling a little down and thankful that I had my wife. What I said was true; but I feel a little rum about having said it.

OW Holmes wrote:I've had a couple of 100 point wines, so I suppose they must have been the best, but truthfully, I cannot separate the quality of the wine from the quality of the experience. "Best" to me is not an abstract objective assessment, but a personal and highly subjective. There are several wines I have enjoyed imensely, with everlasting memories, not because they were the best made or the most expensive, but because of the experience. A 1990 Beaucastel from my friend Joe at a wonderful gathering of friends at Dan's house, a grocery store chenin blanc on a trout stream in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with my friend Bud, a Cotes du Rhone Village red at our friend Lisa's wedding, a nowhere near ready Clos de Pape CdP shared with Beth on our anniversary, a Flor de Pingus shared with Ken the day we learned he had Parkinson's disease... I don't know for sure, but I doubt any of these wines would be considered "best" by any competent wine judge, but I don't care that they aren't 98 point wines. Not at all. To me, they were the best because they were part of some of my best memories. The wine is just fermented grape juice. It's the experience that counts.

I couldn't agree more with your assessment and response to the question, OW! It is, in my humble opinion, the quintessential answer! :mrgreen:

OW Holmes wrote:....To me, they were the best because they were part of some of my best memories. The wine is just fermented grape juice. It's the experience that counts.

I recall my wife and I having dinner on the patio of a small restaurtant in Barbados (late '70s). It was moonlit, our table was next to a white picket fence. As you looked over the fence, the waves were crashing on the rocks below and a habiscus tree in full bloom hung over our table. Somehow, without hardly ever seeing the waiter, dishes appeared on our table. They only had 2 wines on their wine list. We chose the Gallo Hearty Burgundy.

Covert wrote:I had just gotten back from the funeral of a sibling when I posted my sissy-ass comment; I was feeling a little down and thankful that I had my wife. What I said was true; but I feel a little rum about having said it.

Covert, I am very sorry to hear of your loss. I apologize for my ill-timed comment.

Best Regards,

Sam

"The biggest problem most people have is that they think they shouldn't have any." - Tony Robbins

The key here is "tasted" because I didn't have a full bottle--only a small tasting with other people. For red wines I would say a 1999 Raphet Clos de Beze (Burgundy Grand Cru) or a 1997 (?) Alex Gambal Bonnes Mares (Burgundy Grand Cru) sampled at the Nantucket Wine Festival. The best whites I've ever tasted would include a Montrachet that I had as part of a wine education course at the University of Maryland in the 70's (don't recall the vintage) and various Eisweins from Germany while I was living there. Also up there, a couple German wines sampled at MoCool a few years back at a tasting arranged by John Trombley.